On December 6th, the 2024 Cohort was honored to spend another day at the Connellsville Canteen to present the work we’ve been conducting this past semester. As usual, Dan and Mike, as well as the rest of the Canteen’s team, were welcoming and warm as we arrived an hour before guests started arriving. Before the presentation began, we were able to sit down and converse with those who joined us, as well as the professors involved in this project. During this time, I had the opportunity to get to know Dr. Glass more, which was deeply valuable as I heard how he viewed the project and his own research outside of the ACRI. After lunch, each group—Urban Studies, Sustainability, Political Science, and Business—presented their work from the past few months to Fayette County residents and community stakeholders. Each group had one representative who presented its findings. In this post, I’ll discuss the group’s learnings, conclusions, and Political Science’s final deliverables.

I have learned many different things this semester while working on this project. The biggest struggle this semester, and biggest learning curve, was trying to figure out how the four groups worked together in a cohesive way. Despite many overlapping themes like capacity, economic growth, and engagement, it was challenging to define them concretely. We’ve known since the beginning of the semester that we are one cohesive cohort and yet, it was difficult to put words to the way our groups interconnected. Urban Studies discussed Fayette’s tourism economy, highlighting strengths found through interviews with Falling Water, the Fayette Chamber of Commerce, Great Allegheny Passage, and more, while also identifying three areas for growth. The areas identified were accommodation shortages, tourism infrastructure, and community investment. After exploring how collaboration could improve these, Sustainability presented next. Next, the Sustainability group has a very intriguing study along with a detailed deliverable. They discussed strengthening Uniontown’s government, as their original project idea couldn’t be completed due to its current circumstances. Because of this, they performed a gap analysis to indicate which areas within the government were working well and which needed support. They did this by being in contact with the Executive Director of the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Uniontown, and holding a meeting with city council to get their insight. Subsequently, the Business group also did a lot of interesting partnership work with the Fayette Entrepreneurship and Education Center, which was created by the Fayette County Cultural Trust. They wrote out a media training plan for how to market on social media. Additionally, they wrote out a plan for facilitating a Fayette County Job Fair to fill numerous open job opportunities for entry level positions within the county. Finally, I saved Political Science for last. This was the group I was a part of and have been working with all semester. 

Being a part of the Political Science group, we had the lovely Liv Janes representing us. For our project, we decided to focus on promoting youth civic engagement within the county. Civic engagement involves participating in political, social, and community life, including activities like voting, volunteering, and community work. We noticed that while there are many educational assets within Fayette public schools, like dual enrollment courses for example, there are many challenges affecting them. A member of the team, Katie Powers, made a survey that was sent to faculty and staff of Fayette public schools asking questions such as, “How do limited resources impact your ability to provide a comprehensive education?” The survey’s main goal was to gauge and identify what key issues public schools were encountering. From this question alone we identified that there is a significant need for researching this further. Many issues stemmed from a lack of funding, particularly a lack of funding for mandates that are established by the government. Other issues included staff shortages and lack of job awareness among students. This connected to challenges to civic engagement education within the county. Another question asked educators to rate the government’s effectiveness in promoting community well-being on a scale of 1-10 (1 being most effective and 10 being least effective). The average answer being 4. This indicated low trust in the government, which led to low turnout in local elections and overall engagement, especially among young voters. This is where we found what we wanted to focus on for the rest of the semester. We created several suggestions to combat the challenges of low civic engagement. These included things such as offering guest speakers to inform students of the voting process, implementing a voter registration simulation for students, and offering volunteer opportunities for local businesses and governments. Consequently, we then looked inwardly as to what we can do, as a university. After reaching out to the admissions office, we were able to see that there are about 193 students enrolled at the University of Pittsburgh. This includes undergrad and graduate students, across all disciplines. This prompted us to consider ways to connect Fayette County high school students with colleges and universities in the area. We realized that universities/colleges that visit Fayette County public high schools are out-of-state schools. Out-of-state schools are not only more expensive for a Pennsylvanian student, but are also less accessible to get to/attend. We then gave some suggestions for solutions to this complication. One solution consisted of guiding the University of Pittsburgh to participate in more “on-site” public school visits within towns of Fayette County, and engage with students through promoting civic engagement. Next we proposed that the Financial Aid Office create and offer more scholarship opportunities to students who are from the Appalachian Region. Furthermore, the scholarships must be easily accessible and reach students from the region. Two major tangible deliverables that we offered through the ACRI are the partnership with Pitt’s Osher Lifelong Learning Program and paid focus groups. 

The Osher Program at Pitt provides educational content for older adults. ACRI negotiated and funded year one of a group subscription for a partnership between the Fayette County Cultural Trust and Osher Lifelong Learner Program. The program provides virtual courses at the Fayette Entrepreneurial and Educational Center on issues from art theft to Medicare to Irish nationalism. The program also offered an in-person option for a Politics of Appalachia course, taught by Professor Kanthak. On top of that, we advertised paid focus groups that will happen in January, to gather intel on resident’s thoughts on education, politics, and university feedback. We want to hone in on how resources for public high schools can be raised, as well as how to encourage and uplift educators in the area within the education questions. Within the political questions, we want to know how there can be more support for organizations and promotions of youth civic engagement in the area. Lastly, we plan to ask what has been working well with this university partnership, and what ways we can improve supporting Fayette County. We plan to center these focus groups on business owners, community stakeholders, educators, students, and residents of the county. This is all to ensure that our work aligns with community desires and drives economic development. 

That being said, these deliverables are all to stimulate economic growth and create a prospering Fayette County. We aim to deliver measurable results and produce concrete outcomes with these suggestions, programs, and focus groups. We concentrated mostly on education with our suggestions because by providing valuable insights into the needs and interests of young people encourages active participation in local governance and decision-making, fostering a sense of responsibility and connection to the community. By gathering feedback and offering targeted strategies, these deliverables can help create more inclusive, engaging opportunities for youth, ultimately strengthening civic involvement and driving long-term social and economic benefits for the community.

If I could wave a want and automatically implement one of these many recommendations, it would be to create a program within public schools to have volunteer opportunities within the local government. Fostering civic engagement from a young age, helping students develop a sense of responsibility and connection to their community, is a key factor in keeping people connected to Fayette County. It provides real-world learning experiences, teaching students about governance, public service, and the impact of their contributions. This program can inspire future leaders, enhance youth involvement in local decision-making, and create a more informed, active citizenry, ultimately benefiting both the students and the broader community. And that will only strengthen the future of Fayette County down the line. 

All in all, my time with ACRI has been one that I have enjoyed. The people of this group, both the students and faculty, have been nothing but kind and uplifting. Not to mention the most important part, the work within Fayette County. It was a pleasure to go into a community and talk to those who only want to better the place. There was a positive outlook for everyone, even when discussing difficult topics. This is an experience I will not forget for a lifetime. Even when it was very stressful and we needed to have many emergency meetings, the people and the work made it worth it